Version 2.0 – Complete Rebuild and Redesign

Version 2.0

Version 2.0 is officially released! Please spread the word if you like the app.

We’ve worked hard to bring you a brand new ER Browser, working on the whole concept from the ground up. Version 2.0 of ER Browser is a full web browser, with all the common browser features in addition to a tool that can be used to improve reading ability.

Version 2.0 Feature: Visual Theme Builder

The Visual Theme Builder was something that we always intended to include with Version 2.0, it’s something that’s been requested throughout the development process and so we were keen to see it working.

This lets you pick your theme and shows you a running preview of what your theme represents. This makes it ideal for trying things out and testing it’s suitability. You will be able to quickly traverse backward and forward to adjust your choices to allow your selection to become perfect for you.

At the end of the theme builder, there is an opportunity for you to try out the theme on a passage of text.

Version 2.0 Feature: Bookmarks

Bookmarks is a feature that’s prevalent in just about every browser in existence. This is why we needed to include bookmarks in Version 2.0 – we needed to see our ER Browser evolve from simply being a tool for alleviating visual stress, but also one that could be used in a normal ‘browser-like’ way.

Version 2.0 Feature: Support & Report

Support has always been available to users of the app, via our website. However, we understood that sometimes, you may be hesitant to ask for support if you have to jump through hoops to ask. We’ve now included an email based ‘App Support’ button within the app, which can be fired off to us in an instant.

Report Incorrect Websites? You may come across a website that our theme engine doesn’t lend itself very well to. We’d love to know what that website is, so that we can look at ways of supporting it in future versions.

Our support policy still stands. If you’ve purchased the app, we will do our best to get back to you within 24 hours, often immediately.

Improvement: History

We’ve made the ‘History’ section more concise, allowing navigation to any item in the list and also micromanagement of the history items – clear all, or just remove individual items.

We’ve also looked into the use of the History Autocorrect, and we’ve expanded it to include 3 items as standard instead of just one.

Improvement: Theming Engine Performance

Throughout all our version transitions, we’ve always looked to improve the way our backend theme engine works. This time we’ve not looked at speed of execution, but more the actual time of execution. Often, a website will load several files and supporting scripts; previously, we’ve run our theme engine at the point where we were sure that the page had finished loading all these assets. However, we found that sometimes this caused an unnecessary delay when a final resource is taking it’s time. This time, we try to run the theme engine at multiple points at the page load process, so it applies the theme throughout the whole page load.

Improvement: User Interface

It’d be a shame if we released a brand new version but didn’t touch the interface. We’ve added so many new buttons, choices, selections that we needed to restructure the interface to handle it all.

Taking a cue from many popular apps, we looked to use a side sliding menu, that will provide deep choices for the user but not obstruct the interface.